It was 4:15 a.m. and Rick was right on time to take us to the airport for a 6:05 flight. As we prepared to land in Denver, we were greeted by the sun rising.

After a very short wait, we boarded our plane to Vancouver and was treated to a new snack. It was very tasty and decided we needed to order some when we got home.

After arriving at the hotel and storing our luggage, we found a Tim Horton just around the corner for some food. Tim Hortons is a Canadian restaurant chain known for its coffee, doughnuts and connection to Canada’s national identity. As we ate our breakfast sandwiches, we were approached by a homeless man requesting food. It seems that there are over 600 homeless living on the streets of Vancouver and over 1600 living in shelters, detox centers, safe houses and hospitals, with no fixed address. So, it is very common for people to ask for food. Outside on the street was a man sitting with his grocery cart filled with clothes and lots of misalliance items. A woman stops by with her cart, parks it by the other cart and walks off. Several times people delivered hot beverages and sandwiches to the man. While he enjoyed his food, other homeless people came by and talked with him. After finishing our food, we returned to the hotel to wait for Fred to arrive.

Fred arrived and we got our room keys. Steve and Fred had to make a quick run back to the airport to exchange one of the bags picked up by mistake. Dee and I got the rest of the luggage upstairs but not without a few hiccups. First we attacked a maid’s cart with our luggage cart. Then we couldn’t get into the room – the key was no where to be found. As we sat on the floor, checking pockets and bag contents on the floor surrounding us, we totally lost it. We couldn’t stop laughing while trying to find the room key we had just gotten. Finally, the key was found in a very deep pocket and we got the bags into the room.

The guys arrived back from the airport and we were ready for our next adventure. The SkyTrain, the oldest and one of the longest automated driveless light rapid transit systems in the world, was located across the street from the hotel. We bought our tickets and accended up the escalator to the train platform. The SkyTrain arrived and we were off to the Waterfront Centre.